The State Department and other agencies are considering whether to approve an amended Texas Department of Transportation application to build a second bridge for southbound traffic crossing the U.S.-Mexico border at Presidio, Texas, and Ojinaga, Mexico, State said (here). State received the application for an amended presidential permit Sept. 7, and is circulating it to relevant federal agencies for review. Agencies will consider foreign policy, environmental, cultural and economic impacts, as well as compliance with existing laws and regulations, among other things, State said. State is accepting public comments through Oct. 27.

A $10 million Transportation Department grant for the Port of Everett, Wash., will help the port complete modernization of its south terminal and double its rail capacity, facilitating the support of larger vessels and heavier cargo, the office of Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said in a statement (here). The port sees the export of $25 billion worth of goods every year, supporting Washington state’s aerospace, construction, manufacturing and energy sectors. “With this federal investment, we will be able to modernize our facilities to continue to support the aerospace, manufacturing and construction industries in the region,” port CEO Les Reardanz said in a statement.

An increase in the number of cargo ships bound for the U.S. but later redirected to other North American ports was a result of congestion issues during 2015, the Federal Maritime Commission said in a report (here). "The annual increase in congestion rates combined with the labor disputes of late 2014 and early 2015 and the growing attraction of foreign ports as a means of getting cargo into the United States all led to the continued growth of cargo diversions in 2015," the FMC said in the report, an update to the commission’s 2012 “Study of U.S. Inland Containerized Cargo Moving through Canadian and Mexican Seaports." The agency pointed to three main factors that led to increased use of neighboring countries' ports: "port congestion, stale trade growth, and the ability of U.S. importers to determine cargo routing as part of their corporate import strategy."

Steps taken by some ocean carriers and terminal operating companies are “encouraging signs” for smooth implementation of new Safety of Life at Sea verified gross mass (VGM) container weighing requirements that take effect July 1, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero said July 29 (here). At least four ocean carriers have published customer advisories in recent days saying that they will accept VGMs as determined by scales at marine terminals, he said. Cordero also praised a recent agreement between the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six East Coast ports that would allow use of terminal-determined weights (see 1606270039).

Other terminal operators should adopt the Terminal Weighing Approach recently agreed to by the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six U.S. ports, OCEMA said in a news release. The Federal Maritime Commission recently approved an agreement between OCEMA and the ports -- South Carolina Ports Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, North Carolina State Ports Authority, the Port of Houston Authority, The Port of Virginia, and the Massachusetts Port Authority -- to use that approach (see 1606270039). New verified gross mass (VGM) requirements under the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention are scheduled to take effect July 1. "The six major East and Gulf Coast operating ports and 19 carriers in OCEMA have moved quickly to adopt this approach which is terminal, shipper and carrier friendly," OCEMA Chairman Frank Gossi said. "This is a game changer as it will cover almost 40% of U.S. containerized exports. We urge other U.S. terminals to adopt the TWA approach in a way that facilitates the smooth flow of U.S. export movements.”

A group of trade associations updated a list of Frequently Asked Questions (here) on coming global container regulations set to take effect on July 1. The rules will require submission of Verified Gross Mass (VGM) information under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) (see 14051911). The update includes "new questions and answers as well as expanded answers to some" of the previously listed questions, the World Shipping Council said in a news release. "As such, these FAQs do not introduce new interpretations or approaches, but seek to provide further assistance in explaining the SOLAS VGM requirements by building on existing guidance material. Some of the supplementary FAQs explain in more detail how the SOLAS container verified gross mass requirements should be fulfilled in various circumstances as described in questions received from supply chain parties," the groups said. The WSC, the TT Club, the International Cargo Handling Coordination Association and the Global Shippers' Forum jointly produced the document.

Marine terminals in the U.S. should adopt terminal weighing solutions as part of new container weight verification requirements, the Agriculture Transportation Coalition said in a news release. Use of that approach will help prevent a slowdown of U.S. exports related to the International Maritime Organization rules under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS) that will require container weight verification starting July 1 (see 1603030014), the trade coalition said. The AgTC said it agrees with the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association that the marine terminals offer the best approach to satisfy the Verified Gross Mass requirements. The group also supports the G6 Alliance's plan as described to marine terminals recently. The alliance "developed an on-dock rail procedure that is compliant with the Equivalency and SOLAS requirements," the AgTC said. "The G6 solution utilizes the shippers' certification of cargo weights tendered to the railroad, as required by the Intermodal Safe Container Transportation Act. The carriers will marry these shippers' weights with the associated container tare weights pulled from the carriers' own equipment fleet registers, to arrive at the VGM, which will be electronically transmitted to the terminal by the ocean carrier."

The Federal Maritime Commission OK'd an agreement between the Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association and six ports that would allow for the use of container weights determined at terminal gates to meet Verified Gross Mass requirements, the FMC said in a news release (here). The FMC also granted expedited review for the agreement to be effective ahead of the July 1 effective date for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention VGM requirements, it said. "Permitting this agreement to take effect as quickly as possible was in the best interests of all parties and I am pleased that the Commission was able to allow this agreement to go into force without requiring additional information," FMC Chairman Mario Cordero said. "The parties and Commission staff worked hard to come to consensus on how to best balance the desire to create this additional option for filing container weight information that would satisfy guidance issued by the US Coast Guard, with the need to tailor the agreement to the specific circumstances at hand." There's no reason to "not be flexible, practical, and pragmatic in providing ways to comply with these new obligations" and "I hope that other port authorities and terminal operators will be inspired to establish their own innovative processes to ease SOLAS VGM compliance," he said. The six ports -- South Carolina Ports Authority, Georgia Ports Authority, North Carolina State Ports Authority, the Port of Houston Authority, The Port of Virginia, and the Massachusetts Port Authority -- and OCEMA filed for FMC approval in May (see 1605200025).

The National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America created a new form that shippers can use to satisfy coming container weight verification requirements that go into effect July 1 (see 1606200004). The form (here) may be used to submit Verified Gross Mass information under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention (SOLAS). The group also updated its Shipper's Letter of Instruction form (here), it said. The NCBFAA also recently created a repository of SOLAS information (here).

California Assemblyman Patrick O’Donnell, D-Long Beach, introduced legislation that would replace PierPASS at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, he said in a news release (here). The bill (AB 531) would create "the Southern California Joint Powers Authority (SCJPA), which will have the power to implement policies that alleviate port congestion, expand port infrastructure, and reduce air pollution at the two ports. SCJPA will be governed by a board of representatives from the two ports, the Cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and other community stakeholders." PierPASS, a not-for-profit company owned by the ports' marine terminal, "is a lot like the typewriter, having once served a valuable purpose, it is now an outdated relic,” said O’Donnell, chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Ports. “The neighboring Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles are one of our greatest assets, with billions of dollars’ worth of goods passing through the gates. We have a duty to ensure they remain a competitive and environmentally-friendly fuel for California’s economy.”